Paul Wolfowitz last night received his second vote of confidence in three days from George Bush, as the World Bank president came under more pressure to resign from the Washington-based organisation.

"The president has full confidence in Paul Wolfowitz", said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino; he had done "a remarkable job". It came on a day when Mr Wolfowitz faced down a growing rebellion by his staff over the way he took charge of moving his partner, Shaha Riza, from the bank to a highly paid job at the US state department.

The bank president made a statement yesterday to finance ministers of the G7, the industrialised countries that control the bank, and ultimately will determine his fate, after the bank's board of member countries published documents studied while investigating Ms Riza's leaving.

Mr Wolfowitz's rearguard action came as John Edwards, a Democrat bidding to be the presidential candidate in 2008, joined aid agencies and the bank's staff association in calling for him to stand down over what Washington calls "Rizagate". He was jeered by some staff on Thursday, and a protest is planned for today at the bank's spring meeting.

The documents reveal that Ms Riza, head of the Middle Eastern department when Mr Wolfowitz was appointed by Mr Bush, did not want to leave and considered herself the victim of the matter. She was seconded to the state department on a higher grade and her pay raised by $61,000. "I have now been victimised for agreeing to an arrangement I have objected to, and that I did not believe from the outset was in my best interest," she said.

The board's ethics committee required her "to go on external assignment contrary to my wishes" and she had suffered "professionally, physically and psychologically".

The bank's ethics committee was not consulted on the arrangements made when, on Mr Wolfowitz's arrival, Ms Riza was seconded. In a short statement, the bank's board said: "Neither did it find that the terms and conditions of the agreement had been commented on, reviewed or approved by the ethics committee, its chairman, or the board." The board would "move expeditiously to reach a conclusion on possible actions to taken."

The review by the board focused on whether Mr Wolfowitz broke staff rules by his actions. The bank president said on Thursday that he took full responsibility for Ms Riza's promotion, and apologised on Thursday, saying he had made a mistake. The board's statement said that he had revealed his relationship with Ms Riza while negotiating his contract and, at the directors' request, sought guidance from the ethics committee: "The guidance given on an informal basis was the employee be relocated to a position beyond potential supervising influence."

Mr Wolfowitz has faced resentment over his ties to the Bush administration and his role in the Iraq war that overshadowed his first two years at the bank. Two aides, Robin Cleveland and Kevin Kellems, were drafted in from the administration and have been a focus for anger in the bank. Sources said they would have to go if Mr Wolfowitz was to save his job.

The bank's staff association has called on him to go, saying it seemed impossible for an institution, whose mission is to fight global poverty, to move forward "with any sense of purpose under the present leadership". The Bretton Woods Institute said the bank's credibility was in tatters, while Oxfam International said that if Mr Wolfowitz had broken the rules it was "very hard to see how he could continue".